What do you give a Chemistry Professor as a birthday present whose only love is his work? It has to be something science related, unusual enough that he doesn’t already own it, and memorable enough to be a discussion point for many months or years to come.

The boffins at Nottingham University had such a dilemma when it came time to buy Martin Poliakoff a present. We already know Martin from the excellent periodic table videos where science is made fun. So it was only fitting that the present they got him was a periodic table. Only this one was quite hard to see.

The Nanotechnology Center in Nottingham plucked a single hair from the professor’s head, stuck it in a vacuum, and printed a periodic table on to it. The end result was a perfectly formed text table that measured just 100 x 50 microns.

The present was a great success with Poliakoff saying it was the best he had received and that it may also be the smallest periodic table in the world.

One problem the professor’s colleagues now have is what on earth are they going to do for next year’s birthday?

Although this is just a fun birthday present, wouldn’t it be great to be able to store information on your body that no one knew was there due to its size? Unfortunately, our surface is ever changing, so having something etched on your skin or hair would only last so long. Skin falls off, and hair eventually gets cut. If you want permanent then you’d have to add it to an item you wore such as a ring, or go bigger and get a tattoo.